


to die surrounded, but alone

by celestialriptide



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Death, Episode: s06e05 The Black Paladins, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Strangulation, no beta we die like men, tagged kuron bc i mean technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialriptide/pseuds/celestialriptide
Summary: What if The Black Paladins ended differently?
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 52





	to die surrounded, but alone

**Author's Note:**

> i won't apologize

The universe feels like it’s falling apart around him, and Keith thinks it’s fitting for the situation he’s locked in. The floor shakes, and the crash of clone pods pounds a horrifying beat against the steadily screaming alarm that’s trying to convince him that the biggest danger is the imminent destruction of the facility. Each new crash of glass resonates in time with every erratic beat of his heart, irregular and terrifying, a song fit for every regret he’s tried to keep hidden. 

He’s tired. Shiro keeps advancing, taunting him, breaking him. Down, and down, and down. He isn’t sure how much longer he’s going to be able to hold Shiro back, or how many more times he’s going to be able to get away. After all that he’s been through, he never thought he’d find a situation where he wouldn’t be able to get back up and keep fighting.

He never thought to think this situation was possible, though. He feels trapped, like an animal, and there’s a part of him that realizes that he’s not going to be able to make it out of this alive. Even if he could fight back, even if he had a way to win, he knows he wouldn’t, couldn’t. His purpose for years has been Shiro’s safety, his health, his continued life. The only way out of this would be to kill him, and Keith can’t do that. It goes against everything he knows, everything he feels, because...because...

“I love you.”

The words burn Keith’s tongue, a reminder that he’s never been desperate enough to let them slip through the steadily widening cracks in his resolve. He hasn’t had a _reason_ to speak them aloud before, because there’s a war going on and there’s supposed to be plenty of time to talk about feelings and hopes and dreams once it’s all over and they’re _allowed_ to make plans for the future again. He always planned to let them out before he died. He just never expected to face the end so soon.

Above him, Shiro’s eyes go wide, and Keith uses it as a distraction to get away. He never wanted those words to feel cheap, but they do now. If they get out of this, after he rips Haggar apart for what she’s done today, he can-

He didn’t move fast enough.

Shiro slams against his back, shoving him into one of the few still standing pods. His head knocks against the glass, the shock sending his ears ringing. He only has to try and ignore the image of Shiro inside, still and lifeless, for a moment before he’s being flipped around. It’s still long enough for a thought to surface in his mind, useless wonderings that don’t change what’s coming. 

If he’d been able to activate any of the clones, would it have changed how this has gone? Would they have teamed up with the Shiro in front of him, would he already have been dead? Would they have helped him escape? Would they have been Shiro, _his_ Shiro, or would they have been like the one in front of him? Ruthless, vengeful, unforgiving?

It doesn’t matter, now.

Shiro’s monster of a prosthetic wraps around Keith’s neck, and his back slams against the ground. Shiro’s weight is upon him instantly, the rough grip around his neck not loosening for even a second as he tries to struggle against it. Keith claws against Shiro’s arm, scrabbling to try and hook his own fingers between Shiro’s and his throat. It burns, and Keith feels something inside of him snap as his own wide eyes stare up at Shiro’s cruel, snarling face. 

“I’m sorry,” his own voice comes out more like a wheeze, a sound he doesn’t recognize. He tries to gasp in a breath against the steadily building pressure against his throat, and he can feel his trachea collapsing against the onslaught. 

“Shut _up_ ,” the monster, no, _Shiro_ above him growls, and Keith feels the way Shiro’s nails turn against him, sharp claw like pin pricks against the sides of his throat before he’s lifted and slammed back against the cold metal of the facility once more. While the action momentarily eases the crushing force blocking his airway and allows him to gasp in a much needed breath, the harsh way his head collides with the ground has him seeing stars and leaves behind a dull ringing in his ears. 

His vision starts to return as he loses the energy to fight back. It’s all he can do to push against Shiro’s arm, his fingers slipping uselessly away without any force behind them. He’s not sure if he’s shocked or not that the man he’s dedicated the last few years of his life to will be the death of him, literally rather than figuratively this time. 

“-orry I couldn’t save you.” He didn’t notice his own mouth moving against choked words. The ringing is still heavy in his ears and he’s not sure if his voice is actually coming out. The way the fist holding his throat flexes makes him think maybe whatever whispered dredges of sound he’s able to force out are enough for Shiro to hear, though.

“You...” the fist tightens again.

“You tr-trusted me, and I couldn-” he chokes against the last letter of the word, unable to force it out. His lungs scream in his chest, and he can feel the way his body bucks as he struggles for even the slightest chance at oxygen before his muscles tense and his body locks up. There’s a crack, loud and screaming in his ears, and his eyes go wide as his mouth falls open. There’s a moment of loud, deafening silence as he stares up at Shiro, and then nothing. 

__________________

The first thing he notices is his arm. There’s something about his prosthetic that’s off; large, foreign, clunky. The second thing he notices is that it’s _burning_. Stretching all the way from his shoulder down to the tips of his fingers, his right arm feels like it’s been dipped in a vat of acid then lit aflame. 

The second thing he notices is that he’s not sure where he is. As his eyes flick around his surroundings, he can’t help but feel like it’s familiar in some way, but he can’t figure out how he got here. He has a vague idea that he’d been fighting, but who, and what, and why he can’t recall. 

The third thing he notices is that he’s sitting on someone. 

The fourth thing he notices is that whoever it is isn’t breathing. 

The fifth and sixth things he notices at the same time. The fifth is that he recognizes the armor the person beneath him is wearing; the sixth is that it’s his own hand wrapped tight against their throat. 

The seventh thing is less of a realization and more of a revelation; it shakes him to his very core and shatters his foundation. He jerks his hand away before he really processes what he’s seeing; he refuses to look at the damage he’s unveiling. He didn’t notice the hands lightly hanging onto his own wrist until they’re falling away as he moves. They fall against an unmoving chest while he throws himself to the side and off of the still body. 

Shiro reaches out with shaky hands to brush dark hair away from a pale face and glassy eyes. 

“Keith..?” There’s a burn cutting across his face, and his eyes are unfocused, unseeing. Shiro’s breath catches in his throat, trying to rationalize what he’s seeing, but there’s only one conclusion he can come to though he can’t find an explanation for it. 

Carefully, he lifts Keith up, pulling him in against his chest. Somewhere in the back of his mind a vague voice echoes declarations of love while he tries and fails to find a pulse, to see Keith’s chest rise even a fraction. His fingers flit over the ruins of Keith’s neck, but there’s nothing he can do. Every sign is telling him he’s too late to save Keith, and his own fingers match the patterns against the soft skin of Keith’s throat. 

When he screams, he can feel Black scream with him. Her roar echoes over the crumbling facility, loud and as furious as he is broken. He can feel what remains of his own connection with her crumbling in the wake of her rage. Nothing seems real. 

The facility around them is crumbling, and Shiro is pretty sure there’s an alarm sounding somewhere, but he can barely make it out over the chorus of his own cries mixed with the thunderous roars of a lion without a pilot. 

Shiro curls over Keith, holding him close, and protects his body as his last act.

**Author's Note:**

> just cause i didnt know how to write it with two dead protagonists: the facility explodes & shiro dies protecting keith's body from the blast. this is space and space is cold so please imagine keith's body is just out there floating somewhere waiting to be found. thanks. 
> 
> this might be the beginning of a series focusing how everyone finds out but no promises on that front.


End file.
